Apple unveils iPhone Duo, its new folding phone that costs at least $3K

Apple unveils iPhone Duo, its new folding phone that costs at least $3K

Event is 1st with new CEO John Ternus at the helm

Apple on Wednesday unveiled a foldable phone called Duo, introducing the biggest change in years in the company's flagship product.

The Duo is sized and shaped like a passport, with rounded edges. It opens into a horizontal, wide screen that also can be viewed vertically. There is a smaller single screen on the front, when the phone is folded. When open, it is Apple's thinnest phone, the company said.

It's also its most expensive, starting at $2,999, according to the company's news release. Pre-orders begin on Oct. 17 and the phone will be available Oct. 23.

“iPhone Duo is the most transformational change to iPhone since the original. With an entirely new design and intuitive experiences, it shows what’s possible when hardware and software are engineered together and redefines what it means to use a foldable phone,” said John Ternus, Apple’s new CEO.

Ternus criticized existing foldables as awkward and poorly suited for common tasks such as scrolling and video viewing, saying the Duo was designed to deliver an iPad-like experience in a pocket-sized device through a custom hinge, dual displays with a consistent aspect ratio, and a new titanium body.

The event, the first with Ternus at the helm, is the most noticeable overhaul of Apple's flagship product since it removed the physical home button from the iPhone X in 2017. The iPhone brought in $209.6 billion US ($288.8 billion Cdn), or slightly more than half of Apple's sales, in its most recent fiscal year.

The keynote address is also the first extended commentary from Ternus, who previously served as Apple's hardware chief but has kept a low public profile aside from a handful of product introductions and sustainability initiatives.

Former CEO Tim Cook handed over the leadership baton to Ternus with a video about how to start the presentation that ended with a closeup of Cook, who said, "Not me. That's your guy," pointing back toward Ternus.

New iPhone Pro, AI features, AirPods

Ternus touted the iPhone as a personal AI hub that focused on privacy, saying that others wanted to collect and store personal data.

"Honestly, trust only goes so far when your data is no longer yours to control," he said. "That's why Apple Intelligence runs on device whenever it can."

Apple's Lilian Rincon described an updated Siri assistant that will work with 300,000 apps at release.

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Executives also showed off the iPhone 18 Pro and the 18 Pro Max handsets that are the latest versions of Apple's well-known line, which do not fold. Pricing for the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max starts at $1,749 and $1,899.

Apple also unveiled a feature aimed at addressing growing concerns over AI-generated and manipulated images. It introduced a new standard it calls "Apple Reference Image" to prove the authenticity of the images taken with the new iPhone 18 Pro cameras and said it will also support the emerging SynthID standard for identifying images that have been created or edited with AI. The Apple Reference Image feature will not be available in the EU or China.

The iPhone 18 Pro will also include the new A20 Pro chip, which brings improvements to help advanced AI models to run directly on iPhones.

The company also said a new version of AirPods would start at $179 with noise cancellation, a first for its budget line of earbuds, and that a $209 version will be available with extra features such as wireless charging, and on-stem volume control that will allow users to adjust the volume by swiping up or down on the stem.

Apple also introduced the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4, positioning them as major health-focused upgrades.

Ternus previously served as Apple's hardware chief but has kept a low public profile aside from a handful of product introductions and sustainability initiatives. It will fall to Ternus to persuade Apple's customers that they need a foldable device costing about $3,000, a new high for a global brand that has defined mass luxury.

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